Azkals strike luck in Yangon as they beat dominant MyanmarOJ Porteria drove in for a goal at the 77th minute as the Azkals won on Myanmar soil for the first time on Wednesday in Yangon. It was the 18-year-old Virginia native's second goal for the Azkals. The first goal came just last September, when the Philippines played Chinese Taipei at the Rizal Stadium.

S. Korea recalls stars playing overseas for football friendly vs. Croatia English Premier League midfielder Ki Sung-yueng and Germany-based youngster Son Heung-min headlined the South Korean football roster finalized Monday for an upcoming friendly against Croatia. The Korea Football Association (KFA) unveiled the 24-man lineup with a strong overseas flavor, with 13 of those players currently either playing outside of South Korea or soon set to join a new foreign club.

Belarus undergo final preparations ahead of Hungary friendly The match preparation was marred by one Belarusian squad change. Belarus manager Georgy Kondratyev had to call up defensive midfielder Andrei Khachaturyan, who is contracted to FC Shakhter, Soligorsk, Belarus, to replace injured midfielder Ilya Aleksiyevich from BATE, Borisov, Belarus. Belarus played against Hungary only once and hammered them 5-2 in Debrecen on 17 April 2002. The latest FIFA rankings published in January read that Belarus are 65th with the Hungarian team occupying the 32nd place.

Cyprus v Serbia Two sides with struggling qualifying campaigns for the World Cup in 2014 go head-to-head this Wednesday evening in a friendly in Cyprus as Serbia are the visitors and favourites to win the game. Despite beating Germany in the last World Cup finals, Serbia are a long way off qualifying from their Group A with Croatia and Belgium well ahead of them in the group.

Spain - Uruguay The champions of Europe and South America meet in the Qatari capital looking to fine-tune preparations ahead of key World Cup qualifiers next month.

Israel hosts Finland friendly prior to Portugal qualifier Israel coach Eli Gutman said on Tuesday that he plans to use Wednesday nights friendly match against Finland in Netanya as a dress rehearsal for Marchs crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier against Portugal. Gutman revealed he will test on Wednesday the lineup and formation he currently plans to implement in the showdown with the Portuguese at National Stadium in Ramat Gan on March 22.

Czechs to play Turkey without injured Cech Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech will miss the Czech Republic's friendly against Turkey on Wednesday due to a broken little finger. Czech picked up the injury during Chelsea's 3-2 loss to Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday.

Northern Ireland face Malta secret weapon Borg A former Blackburn Rovers defender could be Maltas secret weapon against Northern Ireland tonight. Jacob Borg, who spent time at Ewood Parks youth set-up with Manchester Uniteds Phil Jones, has earned his first call-up to the international side after his time in Australias A-league came to an untimely end. Im so excited about playing against Northern Ireland that I have barely been able to sleep! he added.

FYR Macedonia v Denmark wo sides struggling to qualify for the World Cup in 2014 take each other on in Eastern Europe this evening as Denmark are looking for some respite from a miserable campaign. Denmark look to be crashing out of the World Cup proceedings at the first stage but are of course strong favourites to beat an inferior opponent on paper in Macedonia, who are not given much of a chance by the bookies to win against their Scandinavian opponents.

Romania v Australia The Socceroos will play their first match of a pivotal 2013 when they battle Romania in the Spanish town of Malaga on Thursday morning. Holger Osieck's side will look to gain confidence and momentum from the friendly ahead of next month's crucial 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Oman in Sydney. Australia are unbeaten in their past six matches  although four of them were East Asian Cup qualifiers  and last tasted defeat in September. That was a crucial loss, however, as Jordan outclassed them in a 2-1 win in Amman, leaving the Socceroos in some danger of missing football's biggest party in Brazil next year.

Capello to try out reserves in Iceland friendly The Russian national team are preparing for a friendly against Iceland in the Spanish city of Marbella on Wednesday. The game will be regarded mainly as a test for new players in the squad. This year will be key for coach Fabio Capello, who is determined to guide Russia to their first World Cup since 2002. The Italian has enjoyed a dream start as Russia's head coach. They top their World Cup group with a perfect record of four wins from as many games. However, it's 2013 which counts, where Russia will be looking to ensure passage to Brazil next year.

Milan strikers lead Italy v NetherlandsMario Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy had a dream start as AC Milan's new strike force. Now they are looking to take the chemistry to the international level when Italy take on the Netherlands in a friendly in Amsterdam.

Sweden - Argentina Argentina will hope that Lionel Messi can outshine Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and help the team extend its current eight-game unbeaten run in official matches. Alejandro Sabella's men have not tasted defeat since their opening World Cup qualifier against Venezuela back in 2011 and the coach will be doing all he can to ensure that does not happen again with Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain and Messi all set to start.

Scotland vs. Estonia - Not Just a Friendly Fans on both sides will no doubt remember the "game that never was," an incident that has become legendary in Estonian football. It happened in Tallinn in 1996 when the Scottish team, visiting for a World Cup qualifier, complained about the quality of the floodlights at the Kadriorg Stadium. On the very morning of the game, FIFA, bowing to the Scottish grumbling, moved the kick-off time to 15:00 from the original 18:45. The Estonians countered that their team, and more importantly their fans, would not be able to react quickly enough to the last-minute change and protested by not showing up at the stadium. The referee initially awarded the game to Scotland, but FIFA scheduled a rematch in Monaco the following year that ended 0-0.

Three things to watch in Ireland v Poland Lots of new and new-ish faces on show tonight as Ireland look to get 2013 off to a winning start against Poland. A friendly in deepest, darkest February may not normally stir the blood but with the folks who played such excellent hosts to us last summer, Poland, coming over to play, the least we can do is return the favour. That said, after giving them a warm welcome, we want to win too. Our last game was a 1-0 defeat to Greece and while we played well in that game, it ended a bad year on a bum note. This year will decide if we make it to World Cup 2014 and the fate of manager Giovanni Trapattoni depends on qualification. A big year then requires a good start, so heres what we will be looking for tonight.

France Vs Germany Germany have not managed a win against France in 26 years and Lows side face an uphill task if they are to end that hoodoo on Wednesday night.

The seven-time African champions take on Chile in Madrid on Wednesday for their third meeting in history, the last being a friendly game in 1989 when Egypt claimed a 2-0 victory.

We always get excited before this kind of games, Chile is a good team with big players like (Barcelona forward Alexis) Sanchez and (Juventus midfielder Arturo) Vidal ... we're excited, the American boss said on Tuesday.

4
posted on 02/06/2013 8:45:16 AM PST
by Berlin_Freeper
(If you want to ring the bell - you got to swing the hammer hard!)

Bradley started his speech by rebuffing rumours over the interview he gave to ESPN on Saturday, a few hours after a court verdict sentenced 21 fans to death for their role in last years Port Said disaster.

I never criticised the current leadership or the current president. I was explaining some of the people's emotions here, he said.

Since I'm here, I always try helping the country either by visiting hospitals or trying to deliver a message about tourism.

Me and my wife love this country and love its people, and will continue supporting it as long as we stay here.

I never get any instructions from the American Embassy here, and there's no special contact about anything.

6
posted on 02/06/2013 8:53:15 AM PST
by Berlin_Freeper
(If you want to ring the bell - you got to swing the hammer hard!)

It was a poignant remark, considering the status of the team during its short stay here for a World Cup qualifying match Wednesday afternoon. The Americans arrived amid a flurry of warnings and security alerts identifying San Pedro Sula as the most violent city on the planet. According to the United States Department of State, there were 159 homicides for every 100,000 residents in 2011. The areas population is about one million.

Honduras sure to give U.S. national team a crazy experience The relatively serene scene was short-lived. As the motorcade picked up speed, it was joined by one, then two, then several more pickup trucks carrying cameramen who were standing in the truck beds. At highway speed, these journalists appeared to be risking life and limb to capture video of the back of a busat night.

Welcome to Honduras. Welcome to the Hexagonal.

Several dozen more reporters and cameramen awaited the U.S. national team at its hotel, the name and location of which isnt revealed publicly by American officials but which apparently was common knowledge in San Pedro Sula. One newspaper even printed the teams floor and practice schedule, a U.S. Soccer official said.

7
posted on 02/06/2013 9:02:02 AM PST
by Berlin_Freeper
(If you want to ring the bell - you got to swing the hammer hard!)

Anyway, haven't you all listened to Rush? Soccer is dangerous for children, and I am sure it's just a matter of time before the lawsuits start hitting the courts to make those who push our children into playing soccer pay for their crime.

After all, once they have eliminated football from our society, it will be but a matter of time before they go after soccer. So wit for them to force the Olympic committee to drop it from their competition so we can protect our children.

Besides, why do we need a dangerous sport like soccer in the Olympics when we can have Pole Dancing instead?

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